Thursday, January 17, 2013

NBA 2K13 Roster Analysis 1/17/13

2K Sports released another comprehensive roster update for NBA 2K13, making up for a lackluster effort 5 days ago. Numerous players have been edited, including the top two players in the league, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Who else saw adjustments? Read on.

Editor's Note: I will also be running some online games, featuring players who had rating adjustments in this update. Check out my stream on Twitch Friday afternoon.

I have no idea why Thomas' shot attributes weren't properly adjusted after last year's nightmare season, but it's good to see 2K come to their senses. Thomas showed up out of shape after the lockout and has yet to recover.

As a bit of a nitpick, there was no need to reduce Thomas' FT rating. Thomas is a career 73% shooter but that is due to the 60% he shot as a rookie.... SEVEN YEARS AGO. Thomas is 192-244 (79.8%) over his last three seasons which is more relevant than his overall career rate.

Monta Ellis is having a horrific offensive season and it seems everyone except for Monta Ellis is warming up to the idea that he isn't very good.

Monta Ellis have it all. Except for an effective jump shot outside of 15 feet. The numbers blatantly show how overrated Ellis has been overrated from mid-range, and despite 2K's decrease in this attribute he is still grossly overrated.

It was curious to see Sullinger with low rebound ratings to start the year, given that this was an obvious strength of his in NCAA. 2K fixed their mistake with this update, which will probably be the only one Sullinger receives for a full calendar year.

Allen gets increases to his defensive attributes that solidify him as the best defensive guard in the NBA... he also gets a higher Consistency rating than Dwyane Wade despite being in the middle of a putrid offensive season (I promise, I won't harp on this again, at least for the duration of this post).

I'm shocked we didn't see more changes for LeBron as he is certainly worthy of them. His jumpshot has noticeably improved this season, yet his 3pt rating has gone completely untouched.

LeBron hit another milestone this week - he is the youngest player to hit 20,000 points in his career. He also racked up his 5,000th assist in the same game. What does the man need to do to get a 99 Offensive Awareness rating? Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and Dirk Nowitzki have it and they sure as hell aren't 10th in the league in assists per game whilst scoring at a high rate.

While a slight boost to Lopez's Medium shot was nice, his Inside and Close shot ratings went completely untouched and his improvements in those areas are the main reason why Lopez is one of the NBA's most improved players.

I would also gander that a player averaging 12 points in only 26 minutes is worthy of slightly more than 51 Offensive Awareness, lest 2K thinks Lopez gets his points from dumb luck. Even with an 11-point improvement, he still has the lowest mark on the Hornets (who employ Al-Farouq Aminu, Xavier Henry, and Lance Thomas).

I expect more edits for Nash as 2K slowly accounts for his decline. The next rating to drop will probably be his Inside shot and Layup ratings. It is also time to decrease Nash's 99 Offensive Awareness, as he is unlikely to be a top-tier offensive player again (certainly not with the Lakers).

Wallace's athleticism has declined with age, and while his Layup and Dunk ratings should be even lower, it's a step in the right direction by 2K Sports. Wallace also has never really been a lock-down defender, instead gaining his reputation from steals and blocks (ala Josh Smith), so the decrease to his On-Ball Defense and Defensive Awareness has been warranted for a few years now.

The main reason Wallace has struggled this season is the evaporation of his already suspect jump shot. When you combine that with his diminishing ability to finish, it's a recipe for decline. The Nets have played better under P.J. Carlesimo and part of the reason why, according to BBall Breakdown, is that Wallace is playing 6.5 fewer minutes per game than he was under Avery Johnson.

Imagine a world where 2K would go through every role player and say "Hmm... does any NBA really deserve sub-40s Defensive Awareness or 25 Consistency?" No NBA player deserves ratings this low if they made it to the NBA, especially one who has been starting for the past year. The result is when a player finally does get a chance, they end up being underrated by 2K for a substantial amount of time, while players who have long-since fallen out of the rotation (say, 3rd string center Timofey Mozgov) will continue to have higher ratings.

George has seen rating improvements in 3 of the last 4 roster updates, and hopefully this is the last one for awhile. In his last update we saw his shot ratings improved, while in this update he saw improvements to just about all of his other ratings.

With that said, I don't agree with his rating at all, as it puts him on par with Danny Granger who has thus far proven to be a better player. The usual 2K ratings are inflated (Offensive Rebounds and Blocks) to make George appear better than he really is.

A 2K update wouldn't be complete without a player getting an adjustment that touched on only one of his attributes. Hill's assist rate has gone up, in part because he no longer plays off-guard next to Darren Collison (or Tony Parker, during his time with the Spurs). The main reason 2K even bothered to update Hill is he had a lower overall rating than his backup, D.J. Augustin, who has played so poorly that he's lost his rotation spot to the likes of Ben Hansbrough. On that note, where is Augustin's rating drop?

Green was a feel good story last season, triumphantly returning from the D-League, but that was then and this is now. To say Green has struggled to fit with the Pacers is an understatement. He showed off a stellar post game last season with the Nets, but has been unable to replicate his success with the Pacers, while also struggling to shoot from distance. With Danny Granger set to return in about a month, Green's spot in the rotation clings by a thread.

Davis has been having a fine season, and the Raptors have played much better with him in the lineup instead of (injured) Andrea Bargnani.

While it's good of 2K to notice this, they went about it the wrong way, increasing the wrong shooting attribute (Close, instead of Medium). Davis is an obviously weak shooter from distance, annually hovering around 25% on limited attempts. Davis plays like a center on the offensive end, but this adjustment will have him play more like a poor man's David West.

Oklahoma City made season-defining headlines when they traded James Harden for Kevin Martin prior to the season opener. Harden is clearly a better player than Martin, but the Thunder have played at just as high of a level without Harden because Kevin Durant has filled Harden's shoes, diversifying his game and acting more as a facilitator this season.

The result is Durant has solidified himself as the 2nd best player in the NBA behind LeBron (a gap that grows slimmer with each passing day), and should be considered the favorite for league MVP based on his team's success in the tougher Western Conference.

The fact that Aldridge's Close shot went down by only 4 points (while none of his other ratings changed) is an absolute joke. He has not been himself this year and the team would be dead in the water if not for explosive production from rookie Damian Lillard. Overall Aldridge is shooting

Rashidi's Rating: 85

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INJURED PLAYERS

Many key players recovered from injury this week. Lakers fans will be happy to have access to Howard and Gasol again (even though they'll still take 30 shots per game with Kobe), while Knicks fans will be happy as hell to see Iman Shumpert back. They won't have to use James White or Ronnie Brewer at PG anymore for their cheesy dunks and can instead use a semi-legitimate PG now.

Mike James has been in previous 2K games and his re-addition to the game should not be particularly difficult. He has been missing since last year though, so don't expect him to be added until he is signed for the rest of the season.

Kevin Jones' minutes are on the rise due to Anderson Varejao's injury, and he will be the next player 2K absolutely needs to add to their roster.

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INCORRECT LINEUPS

Only two lineups were off this week so it's good to see 2K finally get this area under control.

KNICKS
Jason Kidd (PG), Ronnie Brewer (SG), Carmelo Anthony (SF), Amare Stoudemire (PF), Tyson Chandler (C)
It has been widely reportedthat Amare Stoudemire will be coming off the bench for the foreseeable future, yet he has been starting in 2K's roster since 1/3. Marcus Camby (prior to injury), Kurt Thomas, and Chris Copeland have been drawing all the PF starts since Amare returned.
Brewer also lost his starting job and James White had been drawing starts prior to Iman Shumperts return today. This begs another question: Why would 2K start a healthy Amare but not a healthy Shumpert?

About LaMarcus AldridgeHe has picked up his game over the last month. His first month he was adjusting to Stotts system, look at his averages from the last month and they are much better and in line with lst years numbers

"The fact that Aldridge's Close shot went down by only 4 points (while none of his other ratings changed) is an absolute joke. He has not been himself this year and the team would be dead in the water if not for explosive production from rookie Damian Lillard. Overall Aldridge is shooting"

This down year for Aldrdge you're talking about has definitey be overstated. He doesn't shoot as many from inside in Stotts system. That doesn't warrant some huge decrease. I remember you berating 2K in a few instances for lowering a particular players ratings, citing the new system they play in or the lack of playing time, same principal here for Aldridge. Second of all, a big reason why Aldridge isn't racking up the stats every night is because of Lillard taking away some of those attempts. Big improvement over bums the bums Crawford and Felton were for them last year. Hickson is also a below average post defender and particularly inept against the pick. Aldridge is always helping out down low in one way or another. You didn't mention his defense but I'll just state that out of the top tier PF's, Aldridge is the best one on one defender.

on the blazers roster, Will Barton is gone now, same with Nolan Smith and thats it. i used them quite a bit in some situations. Will Barton produces and hes got the hops too. need to get these guys back.. hell maybe ill have a full roster!!